Remember how good Rebecca Bross was in 2009 and 2010?

 

 

Rebecca Bross Bars 2009 Worlds AA

 

 

Rebecca Bross Bars 2010 American Cup

 

 

Rebecca Bross Beam 2009 Worlds AA

 

 

Rebecca Bross Beam 2010 National Prelims

 

 

Rebecca Bross Floor 2010 Worlds AA

 

 

Rebecca Bross Vault 2010 American Cup

 

 

After a rough 2011, Rebecca Bross is now back in the mix and expected to battle for a spot on this summer’s Olympic team.  She was also just named to the USA team for the upcoming City of Jesolo meet at the end of this month.  This competition, which has become quite a popular preseason “international test event” for Marta Karolyi, will be nothing short of an early Olympic Trials of sorts this year, as it will feature numerous U.S. Olympic contenders on the same international stage as top stars from Russia, Italy, and Japan.  This meet will be particularly huge for Rebecca Bross, as it will be her first major international competition since the 2010 world championships in Rotterdam, where she won four world medals to cap off her most successful year to date.  The Jesolo meet will answer numerous questions about where exactly Rebecca stands in this whole Olympic selection process.  Will she compete in the all-around, or will she focus on a couple of events like bars and beam?  Has she recovered physically and emotionally from the 2011 Visa Championships?  Will she look as sharp, confident, and solid as she did when she was one of the top all-around gymnasts in the world?

 

At this point, I’m expecting that we may end up seeing a very interesting battle between Kyla Ross and Rebecca Bross for one of the final spots on the Olympic team.  Both could potentially fill a crucial role on bars for the USA, so this event will be absolutely paramount in any competition these two gymnasts compete in over the next few months.  For Kyla Ross, her first opportunity will come at this weekend’s Pacific Rim Championships, where she’ll compete internationally as a senior for the first time, alongside fellow Olympic hopefuls Jordyn Wieber and Gabrielle Douglas and junior stars Katelyn Ohashi, Lexi Priessman, and Amelia Hundley.  The Ross-Bross duo will then compete together at the Jesolo meet two weeks later.

 

Ross has the advantages of a youthful body, incredible poise, and a tremendous amount of momentum as one of the fastest rising stars in America over the past two years.  But Bross has experience, and world medals to go along with it – SIX of them in fact.  These two are among at least a dozen gymnasts who could realistically contend for a spot on the squad for this summer’s Olympic Games, which will feature only five gymnasts per team for the first time ever.  The rapidly approaching Pacific Rim Championships and City of Jesolo meet will provide us with the opening chapters of what is sure to be one of the most dramatic Olympic selection sagas in U.S. history, and Ross and Bross will be right in the thick of it.  Neither of these two can afford to miss a thing while out on a competition floor over the next few months…and neither, for that matter, can we.